Kern-backed committee funds ‘offensive’ campaign postcards to support Belleville mayor
Recently mailed postcards supporting Mayor Patty Gregory and attacking her challenger, City Clerk Jenny Gain Meyer, have Meyer’s supporters arguing that Gregory’s campaign has gone from civil debate and criticism to lies and personal mudslinging.
The postcards referred to Meyer as a “part-time city clerk,” implying that she misses work regularly. They also alleged that she’s affiliated with a political-machine-style Chicago “network.”
“To regain control of city hall, this network hand-picked one of their own to run for mayor — Jennifer Gain Meyer — a part-time city clerk who will be a part-time mayor controlled by the network,” one postcard stated.
Meyer’s supporters, including Illinois Rep. Jay Hoffman (D-Swansea), say city employees, aldermen, local business people, residents and the mayor herself know that’s not true.
The mailings were funded by a political action committee called Friends and Families for Belleville, according to the fine print. It’s led by Chair Randy Randolph and Treasurer Bryan Whitaker, both employees of the St. Clair County 9-1-1 Emergency Telephone System Board. Whitaker also is a Ward 1 alderman.
The committee is financially backed by County Board Chairman Mark Kern (D-Belleville) and his mother, Barbara Kern, Illinois State Board of Elections records show. Each contributed $2,500 to it on Feb. 12.
“I didn’t write (the postcards), and I didn’t pay for them,” Gregory said Thursday, maintaining that she first saw them when they arrived in her mailbox at home on Wednesday.
However, her campaign committee, Patty Gregory for Mayor, had contributed $2,936 to Friends and Families for Belleville on Feb. 12, the same day as the Kerns did, Board of Elections records show.
Whitaker didn’t immediately respond to a BND request for comment.
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Gregory, 71, said she would prefer a campaign based on merit and, particularly in this case, one that showcases the accomplishments of her administration in the past four years.
“When these literature pieces go out, I think it really causes a distraction, on both sides, and they throw people off their game,” she said. “And then we start talking about that instead of real solutions to problems here in the city.”
Gregory said Meyer and her supporters have made plenty of negative comments, personal and professional, about her during the campaign. She pointed to one postcard claiming that her administration had done nothing to solve the derelict-housing problem, despite its demolition of 51 vacant buildings.
Meyer’s supporters argue that this type of criticism is different than false allegations of poor work ethic or corruption, like those in the postcards funded by Friends and Families for Belleville.
Gigi Dowling Urban, who formerly worked for Gregory as administrative liaison to the mayor, wrote on Facebook this week that she was “ashamed” of her and her “handlers” for producing two of the most “personally offensive pieces of campaign literature” she had ever seen.
“As every city employee , including our mayor, knows, Jenny arrives early and leaves late every day,” Urban wrote. “When staff was not able to be there because of illness or some other reason, it was Jenny who covered their responsibilities.
“As every festival organizer and volunteer knows, it was Jenny who opened up the buildings, helped coordinate city services with department heads and workers, to help set up and tear down the events. As every resident or business owner who visited City Hall knows, it was Jenny and her staff who worked tirelessly to help find solutions to their questions or concerns.”
Urban is supporting Meyer and Shelly Schaefer, candidate for city clerk. Urban also is running for Ward 2 alderwoman.
Kathy Kaiser, former close adviser to Gregory who served as the city’s director of PR and communications, also took to Facebook to condemn Gregory’s “false accusations” against Meyer. Kaiser is running for Ward 5 alderwoman.
Several postcards mailed to local residents in support of Gregory and her running mate, Irma Golliday, a candidate for Belleville city clerk, have referred to Meyer as a “part-time city clerk.”
“Irma Golliday will be a FULL-TIME city clerk,” one of Golliday’s postcards read. “It’s about time!”
One of the postcards funded by Friends and Families for Belleville supported this line of criticism by pointing out that Meyer received $23,000 in pay from Hoffman and more than $7,500 from a “local landlord” last year. Meyer doesn’t dispute those figures.
As a single woman with student loans and a mortgage on a 100-year-old home, Meyer said she works part-time jobs to help pay the bills, earn spending money and save for the future. That includes serving as Hoffman’s campaign manager and cleaning offices. Her city clerk’s salary is $78,000 a year.
“I have never not had a part-time job, since I started working at 15,” Meyer said on Thursday.
Meyer, 49, said the side jobs haven’t kept her from spending more than 40 hours a week maintaining records at Belleville City Hall and handling extra city tasks at night and on weekends, including checking on reports of broken street lights, which must be done when it’s dark.
Gregory acknowledged on Thursday that Meyer’s work ethic shouldn’t be questioned in campaign literature, although it’s factual that she works for Hoffman.
“I’ve been involved in many volunteer organizations with Jenny, and she’s always been a good worker,” the mayor said.
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Postcards funded by Gregory’s own campaign committee have mostly focused on what she sees as her accomplishments. Some criticized the late former Mayor Mark Eckert — who served from 2004 until his 2021 election defeat — although not by name.
Gregory referred to the previous administration as “asleep at the wheel” and its economic development department as “lackluster.”
The recent postcards funded by Friends and Families for Belleville attacking Meyer also alluded to the Eckert administration.
“A network looking to return Belleville government to the old days of Chicago-style cronyism and machine politics is quietly and somewhat clumsily trying to take out our Mayor in the April 1 election,” one reads.
“The network is made up of the old guard, the professional politicians, and, if you follow the money, donors from the last administration who got used to running their businesses off no-bid contracts handed out by the city. And then there are the outsiders who have no real stake in Belleville — they only want the power of controlling a mayor.”
The BND asked Gregory on Thursday if she believes Meyer is part of a political machine. She responded that Hoffman has ties to Chicago politicians in the Democratic Party.
Gregory said she was told that people affiliated with Michael Madigan, the disgraced former speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives, had helped with Meyer’s campaign, but she didn’t know who.
When Meyer was asked Thursday if she’s part of a political machine, she said, “I can’t even tell you where they got that from. I don’t have any ties to Chicago that I’m aware of.”
One of the postcards funded by Friends and Families for Belleville alleged that Hoffman “takes his marching orders from Chicago.” It also asked how Meyer could have been putting Belleville first as city clerk when he was paying her for campaign work.
Hoffman responded with a post Wednesday on his Facebook page. He called the postcards “misleading” and described Meyer as a “dedicated and hardworking professional who has likely put in more hours to support the City of Belleville than anyone else.”
“Any attempts to mischaracterize her role or her work are nothing more than politically motivated attacks,” Hoffman wrote.
“Public service should be about facts, not false narratives. I stand by Jenny and the contributions she makes to Belleville, including her volunteer work with countless organizations that have made a real impact for our city and residents. Let’s focus on the real issues that matter to the people of Belleville.”
The consolidated election will be held April 1. Contractor Ryan Musick also is running as a write-in candidate for Belleville mayor. He appeared at a candidate forum Monday night with Gregory and Meyer, but he hasn’t sent out any postcards to local residents.
This story was originally published March 28, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
